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#good old gamecube i love it
pumpkingeorge · 1 year
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I'm not really into Zelda and the lore is a bit fuzzy to me, but my brother is and we were talking earlier.
I suggested that a way to stop Ganondorf would be to kidnap him while he's still a baby and raise him in Hyrule. Killing him would be a little fucked up since he's, y'know, a baby...and killing him off early would only bring his eventual rebirth even faster. (Not that kidnapping a literal baby is a much better moral option by any means dhsd)
My brother knows way more about Zelda lore than I do and he was stumped about this plan. Sure Ganondorf is just a little cursed, but there's also the nature vs nurture concept. If he constantly doesn't have "You have to destroy Hyrule and get the triforce!!" into his skull every waking moment of his life, then maybe that could help him out a little? Just put him in Hyrule and give him a normal life. Let him go fishing or something? Teach him how to make pie?
Someone that is smarter than us can weigh in?
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todayisafridaynight · 9 months
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this isn't related to rgg at all but finding out you're also a fire emblem fan was great... first the mention of the ike figure then the insane por prices LMAO? i had no idea... what games have you played?
Back In My Day i was known as ‘the eliwood/elihec guy’ and on occasion The Ike Guy LOL but yeah…. Guilty as charged……
As for the games ive played ive played Shadow Dragon (DS remake), Shadows of Valentia, and then FE6-FE3H + FEW (minus Heroes of Light and Shadow)
im an asshole for playing on authentic software hence why i skipped out on FE1-FE5 but maybe one day ill stop being annoying and pick them up on an emulator. Or IntSYS remakes them <- doubtful (well. The rest of the JP-exclusive games anyway lol)
#snap chats#FE is like my DQ honestly LMAO i love the games so much#tho… cant say that nowadays… i havent played any of the new ones since FE3H#no particular reason aside from maybe not being too much of a fan of the art style#but i could just be a true geezer at heart and prefer the old pixel/portrait art of the 2000’s era#SoV’s portrait art is gorgeous tho. that games SOOOO good berkut’s still one of my fave antags to this day#oh but. in case you couldnt tell. FE7 was one of my faves to post for a while LMAO#it was the first game i got to play since my bro got it and let me play it#he also had sacred stones so i played that once i was done with FE7#then i played brawl and fell in love with ike. as in Big Sword And He Punches/Kicks People#so….. i saved up to buy PoR and later Radiant Dawn (tho i got RD for. MUUUCH much cheaper)#and i mean i always thought marth was cute. And A Girl so when i was able to i got SD#not my favorite game ngl the cast was just. too huge and not memorable but i still love marth as a character#at some point i figured id try to play FE6 and bought a japanese copy (that i had ray chase sign actually)#the hit rate is fucking. ABYSMAL. and my JP was even worse than it is now BUT we got through it#the tellius games def have my fave cast and lore tho and i love the music. and Por do be on my baby the gamecube#and then i got awakening because my childhood bestie- who never played FE before- loved it a million so i figured why not#and then. My Insane Ass. she bought birthright and so of course i bought conquest#but then i heard about the removed features in the JP versions so i bought those and gave her my conquest copy#and then i paid her to homebrew my 3DS because I Am Stupid. so did i pay an obscene amount of money#to play Arguably the worst FE games Yes. but i got to use my ike amiibo so its ok :)#i love how i talk more bout fire emblem on my rgg blog than on my FE blog LMAO thats just how it be#but yeah those are my FE crimes thanks for listening LOL#i oughta cap it there i been talkin WAAAYYY too long LMAO
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retrogamingloft · 1 year
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Soul Calibur II Longplay (GameCube Version) - As Maxi - Difficulty: Hard No worries, I hadn't forgotten about it...
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mewharley · 1 month
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it's so wild getting into Sonic little by little and seeing the posts about it on Tumblr without much context ????
like I've only read the idw comics, played the first 3 games, saw like 10 minutes of sonic boom years ago and the rest is Tumblr osmosis
and the most relevant or wildest stuff I've learned is:
sonic was a werewolf (werehog) at some point???? (game????) which was referenced in the idw comic
the whole sonic and the black knight posts ??????????? I'm SO lost (another game ????? an AU made game ????)
the whole thing with shadows backstory which i already read two years ago 💔 but still don't have the whole context so for now he's just a random dude that sometimes appears, he's serious, he's powerful, but I haven't seen a lot and i have no context, like what does he do with his life ??? does he just wander around ??? where does he live ???? same with sonic but at least he likes to run everywhere and go anywhere and helps people, but shadow ??? dude what's your purpose in life ?????
I THOUGHT ROUGE WAS A VILLIAN ???? I mean she's a thief but still ????
knuckles is *not* as beefy as he was in Sonic Boom ???? he's so scrawny ?????
Amy's love for sonic IS NOT a secret ?????? at least in the idw comic
Tails and Sonic are actually brothers 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 i thought they were just best friends and he was his sidekick but didn't expect it to be referenced so explicitly 🥺🥺🥺🥺 (idw comic again, idk about other media)
fuck the chaos emeralds in the first games, I gave up trying to get them (only got them in the first game)
are the chaos emerald like the dragon balls? do they randomly hide in the world after "being used" or what ?????
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY KIDS WITH THE REST OF THE CAST??? HOW OLD IS EVERYONE ELSE???? is sonic freaking 15 ????? older? Tails is a kid, Charmy is a kid, Cream is a kid, what's up with that? (at least Cream lives as a kid and Charmy seems to act as a kid, but Tails?? baby noooo 🥺🥺🥺, he's smart, I love him)
First sonic game I played was sonic adventure 1 GameCube version about 3 years ago, but it was so weird, random and hard that i dropped it quickly... but apparently it's one of the best Sonic games ???? so ????? (will definitely try again later)
the sonic franchise and its fandom knows no "cringe" and I admire everyone for that 👊😔, it's just so positive I love it, they're just.. free
haven't tried but I already know i won't be able to draw the characters hahaha, they're just SO dynamic that drawing them all stiff would look weird 💔💔💔💔
are there humans or not in the sonic world???? wait is eggman a human? what's up with sonic adventure having humans? (as far as I remember, I might be confused) do other games have humans? I know sonic is in the human world in the movies but ??
silver my beloved, I've only known him from the idw comic but if anything happened to him i would kill everyone in this room and then myself
for real, the characters are so likeable so far, I love sonic he's cool, a good lad, he's cocky but he like he's right, you know? and he helps everyone and he knows he's cool and and and I love him
so this is my sonic journey
very interesting
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lace-coffin · 2 months
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Hi im that person that asked for the stufed toy thing and oh my god i loved it so much i loved everything and onece your requests are open sorry im asking while they are shut i had this sudden idea for a request sorry😭😭 ive also kinda got 2 ideas soooo sorry😅
But like a reader that is obsessed with drawing and loved to draw cute and sweet drawings to give to asa to do with their hyper fixation or every time they are with him they start ranting to him about it or them i dont know but he would be so educated on their hyper fixation unless its bugs then he would already know everything haha
Or idea 2
The reader likes to lick things randomly for no particular reason they just like to do it or they love physical touch and cant get enough of it always cuddling with asa at night as close as they can and just imagine them cuddling and they just lick him then he just gets confused that would be so funny to imagine😭😭
Or the reader for the same type of thing as the plushie one but instead music to calm them down and they would have like a tiny crying fit for their headphones bc i have had alot of meltdowns over not having my headphones its crazy i love your writing so much hope u have a good day❤️
Asa Emory x Autistic!Gn!Reader with a new hyperfixation
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Requests are open!
Hi I hope you like this! I totally crammed my last two fixations into this < 3
Call Asa old but he wasn’t exactly up to date on video games. He defiantly was now at least, not that he had much choice. You were always flipping between interests, intensely talking and interacting with one topic for weeks or months at a time and then switching to another that catches your interest. It’s been Sonic The Hedgehog for atleast 3 weeks now.
He didn’t exactly picture his desk to be filled with pictures of anthropomorphic hedgehogs but here he is, he kinda signed up for this when he stuffed you into the trunk, knowingly or not. As long as you’re happy then he’s happy, even if he thinks you’re spending a little too much time on that GameCube you begged him to bring to hotel..
A few weeks pass and it’s now the Saw franchise. Victims being “tested” in disgusting gory traps by a man that fancies himself to be god? This is more up to his speed..pun unintended.
A series of excited knocks sound from the door of your masters workroom. Stretching his taught shoulders and neck he takes inventory of his aching muscles, he supposes he can take a break to spend some time with his puppy. Slumping back in the chair and swinging it to face to door Asa calls you in. “Enter”
Keeping your eyes pinned to the floor until given further permission you enter the room, shuffling over to drop to your knees in front of your owner, waiting for the order. The currently unmasked man drinks in your appearance, oversized jumper falling to sit on your neatly pressed together thighs and the collar he places on you every morning slightly twisted, the tag not where it should be.
“Eyes up pet” he says firmly, snapping his fingers to emphasise the point. Jumping a little at the suddenness you snap your eyes up to meet a fond look on master’s face, you relax a little, letting out a sigh.
Shuffling to prop his chin up with his fist in interest, Asa continues.
“What can I do for you pet?”
Visibly perking up and practically vibrating on the wooden floor you push the paper into Asa’s face, defiantly too close, there’s no way he can actually see it like that. Realising this you settle to put it in his lap and stare back at him hopefully.
“I drew more pictures! I wanted you to see..” you reply a little shy, suddenly realising how loud and excitable you had been, insecurity creeping in. Asa recognises you shrinking in on yourself and tuts. “Can I see, cricket?” He adds softly, prompting you to show him what you’ve been working on, he never wants you to feel ashamed about you’re passions even if you’ve been taught in the past to ‘tone it down’
Asa wants all of you, he accepted that from the moment he hoisted you into the box, to the moments when he firmly settles the collar around your throat every morning.
Soft smile settling onto your face you hand over the paper, not ignoring the way your knuckles brush against your masters during the exchange.
You wait with baited breath as he looks the paper over, you know he would never say anything demeaning about your art but you can’t help feel a little anxiety when letting someone in on something special to you. Todays drawing is a rough sketch of your for a saw trap, it’s grisly and frankly disgusting, you don’t envy anyone that would end up strapped down and desperate on the other end of it. Obviously you have no need for a contraption like that, but it’s only an (admittedly) sick fantasy.
After flicking through the diagrams and reading the notes as best he can (it’s not your fault he can’t read you’re handwriting well 🙄) a strange look crosses his face..it’s almost like you can see the cogs working in his brain. this could either be fantastic or a disaster, Asa isn’t one to do things half assed, it’s always all or nothing.
“Can I use this?” The silence is suddenly broken, his sclera eyes raising to meet your own, not any less eerie than when hidden behind his mask.
A strange feeling begins to pool in your stomach, should you feel exited? Proud that he wants to use your plans? Or disgusted? Sick to your stomach that the plans you never envisioned actually coming to fruition will be used to torture some poor individual? Unsure how to feel or respond you stare back at him, lips slightly parted as if trying to muster something up.
“These are wonderful cricket, they may need a little tinkering to make them functional but regardless this design is…fascinating.” A sickly sweet smile sits on your masters lips as he hands the paper back to you, ruffling your hair and placing a chaste kiss to the crown of your head.
Stunned and with a pit in your stomach you nod dumbly, leaning into the affection and practically purring. The idea that you’ve just essentially sentenced someone to their painful and unethical demise is soul crushing…but also a little thrilling? Has your owner really rubbed off on you this much? It’s not like you don’t know what he does day in and day out but it’s never been this..personal.
Asa slaps his knees (like the old man he is) and rolls back over to the desk, pushing away his current projects and random hardware to make room for your (his) new trap.
“Can you bring me the paper please, doll?. I would like to get started as soon as possible.”
Shaking off the ever building dread you pull yourself up, a little unsteady due to the burning in your thighs from sitting in one position so long. Placing the paper on his desk you stare back at him, waiting for further instruction. you’re not sure when he ended up ingraining that response into your mind but at this point it’s not worth questioning, it’s not hard to see that the pair of you are living in your own little world outside of normal society by now.
“You’re welcome to either sit by me as I work and give input considering it’s you’re design or you may sit on your bed and wait for me to finish”
You glance over at the cushy pet bed across the room from Asa’s desk…a lay down does sound ideal right now, maybe a nap will help clear your head? Or swallow the guilt.
“I’m gonna lay down sir, maybe nap a little, promise I won’t snore and distract you” you tease, giggling and feeling a little better in yourself.
Asa huffs out a chuckle at your joke. “I’ll be sure you don’t little bug.” He says, smiling gently at you. You turn to leave before being stopped in your tracks.
“One more thing, pet”
Cool gloved hands slide around your neck making you shiver at the contact, the small misplaced silver tag is slid back into its original place, proudly stating your name and owner on the front like a brand.
“There we go, much better”
Blushing a little you thank your owner and wonder off to the dog bed, curling up and lazily watching him work from afar.
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harukadrawsthings · 20 hours
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Super Mario is the second reason why I'm an old Nintendo customer. I've played many games in the franchise, the first being the 8-bit classic Super Mario Bros.
When you ask a fan what the best Mario game is, the answer is likely to be Galaxy 2 or Odyssey, but for me it's not either of the plumber's key titles (although the two I've mentioned are excellent 3D platformers).
I was one of those people who was overjoyed when it was revealed in September at the Nintendo Direct that they were bringing back "Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door" for the Switch with improved graphics and dialogue and with extras that didn't exist in the GameCube version! (And a good solution to the problem of scalping in the grey market of retro gaming).
I've loved the Paper Mario they made for the Nintendo 64 since I was a kid and I had the chance to play the sequel almost a decade ago and I thought it was amazing how they took everything that was good about the first game and made it even better. Never has a Mario game absorbed me as much as this one; Thousand Year Door is a lot of fun and a turn-based RPG that's both accessible and challenging. It's a shame that the sequels don't follow the same type of gameplay, although I really enjoyed Origami King in general. Here's a suggestion for my followers who have a Nintendo Switch at home. It was great to relive this story in search of the Crystal Stars to save the world and for me it's undoubtedly one of the best games available on the console. 😊
Do not repost. Do not modify. Always credit me!
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Paper Mario, Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Yoshi Kid, Vivian, Ms. Mowz and Admiral Bobbery © Nintendo
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frozen-waters · 3 months
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General Johnigail/Marston family hcs?? <3
ofc ofc yay yay yay!!!!!!! sorry for making John a little lover boy whenever I write johnigail and there are also a few angsty-ish hcs in here
More Johnigail and Marston Family hcs!!!
• John loves when Abigail plays the piano (canon but it makes me giggle)
• John also watches Abigail sew new clothes or mend old ones. I don’t mean this in a weird way but he likes watching her sew without her knowing. in like a sweet way. she looks peaceful to him
• I’m not sure how to explain this but the Marston family (or mostly Jack) is a few The Smiths songs to me
• speaking of The Smiths modern Jack would listen to them
• after Abigail died, Jack wished he had read to her more in his tween/teen years
• even as Jack gets older, he still laughs sometimes at the stories Uncle tells
• Jack also kept all of Abigail’s dresses that she had after she died. he didn’t really know what he was gonna do with them but he couldn’t stand getting rid of them. he did the same with John’s clothes but he kept them so he could wear them
• in modern when Abigail has to go to work in the morning or something John will wake up before her and turn on the car for her so it’ll be warm by the time she’s gotta go
• John and Abigail dancing together!!!!!!!!!!!!!! idk when but maybe if Uncle still plays the banjo or overhearing music is Blackwater!!!!!!!!!!
• modern John had a gamecube when he was in highschool but the only games he played were like. sonic, eternal darkness, and resident evil. dug it out of Hoseas garage or attic when Jack became a teen and "gifted" it to him -> has it in the livingroom and John plays it and Jack will watch him sometimes -> John also thought Jack was insane when he didn't know what he was supposed to do w a gamecube. to him its The Gift
• in modern when Jack was like 7-10 he'd infodump for an entire dinner about a book or show he read or watched in excruciating detail
• Abigail loved dressing up Jack and his sister
• the Marston daughter used Johns shirts and basketball shorts as pajamas for like. five years straight in modern
• mosquito's were Jacks worst enemy in his tween years
• Abigail loves the horses they keep on Beechers Hope. she likes keeping them all pretty and clean
• John buys Abigail jewelry sometimes. it takes all his brainpower to find something that will look nice with an outfit of hers but its worth it when he sees her get giddy over a necklace he got her
• John bought Mary-Beth's books for Abigail since they were mostly romance and he would read them to her. after John died Jack would read the books to her on her and John's anniversary along with taking her to the movies. or he'd read them to her if she asked
• in modern I know deep in my bones John had some weirdass senior quote
• in modern the Marston daughter was afraid of the dark and had a horrible habit of going into John and Abigail's room and accidentally scaring them
• modern Jack wants to have a bunch of little nick-nacks and cool stuff in his room but everything he finds he feels like it doesn't fit the "vibe" he wants
• John does recognize Jack's empathy towards the animals on the ranch. not that he knows what to do or say about it. tried sugarcoating some sickness among the animals to Jack once but eventually had to tell him what was actually happening and Jack was very sad about it
• Abigail did teach Jack to sew a tiny bit
• John would give Jack "relationship advice" (as if he fucking knows anything) when they'd go into Blackwater to sell the ranches goods
• every year for John and Abigail's anniversary he'd take her into Blackwater and take her to see a movie
• Abigail always notices when John wears a gift she got for him no matter how long ago its from
• when Abigail's sick John tries to keep the house nice and tries to cook for her even though they're both fairly bad cooks
• Jack absentmindedly tells Uncle about the book he's reading when they sit on the porch together and Uncle comes up with some story he witnessed similar to the book
• John also takes Jack to see a movie for his birthday. the first time he did Jack does that thing where he gets excited and cant really talk straight and John was proud of himself
• Jack does occasionally like helping Abigail cook or gather things in the garden
• as Jacks hair gets longer he braids little pieces of it without thinking sometimes
this wasn't as long as the last one whoops
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angelicguy · 10 months
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was talking about it the other day but its sad how we are never going to get really big budget games w/ funky artstyles again. like if you look at the majority of big budget releases lately, they are all kind of going for the same thing as far as actual modeling goes- hi fi, super detailed complex models that try to portray as much detail as possible. which is fine for certain games, but it makes me miss the big swings devs used to take.
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take street fighter 4 for instance- despite being over 10 years old at this point, it still looks REALLY good. great art direction, has a weird painterly look so everything has a cool watercolor style to it, models are expressive, etc. and this was a BIG release, its not some indie game (where most big stylistic swings tend to be made nowadays).
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compared to street fighter 6, which is going for photorealism (with strong choices made as far as animation and color goes) it looks dated in the context of graphics generally, but looks WAY better than its contemporaries from the same time period. my fear is that street fighter 6 wont look that great in 10 years time.
side note, its also why street fighter 5 was really only loved by hardcore fans. it does nothing particularly well! its a halfway point between realistic and artistic to the point where it feels like a side-grade rather than an improvement or even its own original idea!
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whatever leaps were made in lighting and texture quality are essentially irrelevant here. fucking gross!
the thing is, i dont think this is a deliberate choice that devs are making right now. from what i can tell, recent rendering tech has made it way easier to achieve a handful of lately- hi fi LIGHTING, increased TEXTURE DETAIL and HI POLY COUNTS come to mind. these are cool, but if youre a dev who wants to make a triple A product, you kind of have to use whatever tech is on the table to make a product look cutting edge. none of those encourage taking wild stabs at cool art directions. devs used to use those cool art directions because it was the ONLY OPTION THEY HAD.
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classic case being windwaker right. the gamecube was a huge graphical leap from the n64, where even getting a model to look like something was a challenge. compared to ocarina of time, windwaker looks absolutely fucking incredible. it got a lot of pushback at the time for being too kiddy, but really the strength of its style is a result of doing as much as they possibly could with the platform they were working on. no high poly counts, the shading tech was relatively simple, and the textures (while a huge improvement over the n64!) are still basic compared to what we have today. windwaker still looks impeccable to this day, and even the HD remaster they made which, ahaha, improved WHAT
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LIGHTING and TEXTURE DETAIL. but without a real consideration for the original artstyle (or why it even existed... which was the gamecubes limitations) it just looks worse.
in response to this pushback (i think, idk i didnt work at nintendo at the time) they gave twilight princess a way more "realistic" look. but given the rendering restrictions of the time, it still has a fairly robust artstyle
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proportions are more realistic obviously, but in order to achieve that realism without the kind of lighting tech we have now the "lighting" is BUILT Into the textures. look at links sword, how it kind of darkens near the hilt, or how the shadow on the keese's wings is just kind of painted in specific areas. i would argue that twilight princess looks a LOT like street fighter 4 in that area-
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damn! they almost look like theyre from the same game! but twilight princess was celebrated for being "realistic" while sf4 was noted for having a funky watercolor style (thats built into the focus attacks even!). its so so smart, because the devs knew they couldnt go for photorealism (like so many games of the era tried at and completely failed at!) so they went for a mix of cool stylistic decisions that allowed a game to look GOOD in a subjective, artistic way.
Not that games don't try and apply artistic principles now, but its a lot less unique. look at mario odyssey
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its just a beach. and it looks great, its well rendered, but its just a beach. colors are clearly intentional and very pretty, but it's nothin that special right now, probably will look even less special in 10 years even compared to levels in the same game.
what im curious about is when are we gonna get back to that kind of artstyle meets rendering tech! if ever! current tech makes it so devs are kind of forced to go down the same boring path. look at mortal kombat 1:
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im sure there are some leaps in texture and lighting, but they keep taking shortcuts. all the faces are modeled after REAL peoples faces and they mocap for expressions/conversation, which gives a really boring look to it. the fact that mk11 and mk1 look so similar so many years apart (4 i guess isnt that much but there have been leaps!) is disappointing to me.
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then you have tekken 8, which is like the best looking game ive ever seen. for a while i found it hard to put my finger on why, but my brother said something really smart i feel- they made all of these models by hand. theyre essentially digital statues. they didnt pull actual face models, they just worked on their features until it looked correct. on top of the lighting and texture work, it creates a look not unlike the renders tekken has been using for years. which is convenient for them, because they can finally match the kind of real-time fidelity they've been chasing for like 30 years
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hell it looks BETTER than that. so what im trying to say is im hopeful that art direction will catch up with the kind of rendering tricks/strengths we have.
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i think tekken 8 feels like how soul calibur 2 probably felt at launch. does a lot of the same things given the time period
i still think hi fi rendering doesnt make for a good looking game, but rather where the focus lies for the player. for tekken it makes sense that they would focus their horsepower on detailed models and stages- youre gonna be lookin at that forever. look at elden ring
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texture wise, SUPER low res for 2022. maybe even 2020. but what they do with the horsepower is genius- they focus on scale to translate locations of objectives to a player while also reinforcing the feeling of adventure, on top of extremely strong choices in color and lighting. i hope, going forward, games focus on how they can use this kind of tech to reinforce a games "gameplay mission statement" while keeping strong artistic choices present rather than focusing on being able to wow someone with a couple of screenshots at the cost of BOTH of those things. im just ranting though french press got my ass
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twisting-echo · 4 months
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So ¿what in your opinion are Danny fenton's top 5 cutest crossover ships? In both het and slash.
So ¿two top 5's? I don't know.
Well, this is going to be fun because I have more than just 5 hehehe 😼
1) Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Manny Rivera/El Tigre (TigerGhost/TigerSpirit) I just fell in love with their dynamic, thanks to @/nicktoonsunite
I love Danny and Manny because Danny tends to be a little more serious and easily stressed out than Manny. And Manny's laid-back and fun loving personality helps balance that out for Danny. But the main draw for me is that they both understand what it's like to have separate identities that clash with their lives and the responsibility of protecting others. Even though they may feel like their powers get in the way of their normal lives sometimes, they will always put aside their own needs to do what's right.
2) Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x SpongeBob SquarePants (SpongeBoo) because of @/nicktoonsunite (and because I remember playing Nicktoons Volcano Island on my old GameCube and Nicktoons Globs of Doom on my old PS2). 
Danny and SpongeBob are just cute, queerplatonic partners, and their personalities mesh well together. I love how close and comforting they are in @/nicktoonsunite's universe. If there was something that was bothering them both, they would be the first people they chose to confide in. 
3) Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom and Octavia Goetia (Spectral Owl) because of you and how cute they are. I honestly love the idea of Danny and Via healthily trauma bonding over the upbringings they had in their family homes. I love how shy and awkward they would be with each other.
I imagine Octavia helping Danny ghost hunt with her magic and knowledge of the supernatural, but I think what I love most is how slowly and gently Danny gets Octavia to put her walls down and trust him. They would be absolutely good for each other as a couple, and I headcanon that Danny will grow to be 6′ 1″ and Octavia will be 6′ 7″. Danny and Octavia will be a tall and adorable king and queen couple one day. (He will always nickname her Spooky.)
4) Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Betty Barrett/Atomic Betty (Galactic Ghost) Now I was a huge Atomic Betty and Danny Phantom fan in my childhood (still am) so that's how this ship came to be.
I ship Betty and Danny for the same reasons I ship Danny and Manny but Danny becomes a galactic guardian and Betty becomes a ghost buster lol.
5) Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Little Cato (Spectral Space/Spooky Cat/Ghostly Hellions) (I need more ship names for these two).
I'm a huge Little Cato fan, and this is one of my favorite ships that I've come up with for him. I like to imagine that Little Cato gets his first intense crush on Danny, and Danny is completely oblivious (for awhile) about it. Little Cato just thinks that Danny is the coolest person he's ever met, and laughs at all of his silly jokes. Danny can't help but think how cute Little Cato is and finds himself enjoying every moment that they spend together. That's all I'm going to say about this ship because I plan to make a post about them in the future.
Honorable Mentions:
Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Jenny Wakeman/XJ-9
Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Billy Joe Cobra
Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Lydia Deetz (Because Lydia is sweet and kind and everything Sam isn't)
Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Spencer Wright
Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Verosika Mayday
Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom x Loona the hellhound 
 There's probably more that I like but can't think of any more right now.
Thanks for the ask @amethystoceandespiser
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genericpuff · 1 year
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my thoughts on tears of the kingdom (on a non-zelda blog)
so here's the thing, I love Zelda.
I've been playing the series since I was a child, practically raised on it by my oldest brother whom I have a 10 year age gap with. One of my most cherished childhood memories was when he got me Wind Waker on the Gamecube as a birthday present, I would have been around 7 years old and he would have been 17. Zelda was and still is a huge part of our lives.
So skip to today, we both got Tears of the Kingdom on launch day. We're both busy adults now who live far away from each other so we've just been updating each other on our progress and sending memes.
But I've got a lot of thoughts about the game that I really want to get out, as someone who's been with this series for two decades. My brother started with games like A Link to the Past and that was practically my first exposure to the series as well as it's what I would watch him play, alongside Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.
There will be mild SPOILERS ahead concerning the gameplay and story, so don't click the jump unless you've already played the game or don't mind getting spoiled!!! LONG POST AHEAD!
So I guess let's just get on with this, yeah? I'm not gonna separate it into "good" vs. "bad" because I find everything in this game has good shit that comes packaged with bad shit. It's a lot of pros with cons attached, so trying to separate it cleanly between "good" and "bad" isn't going to be a very productive approach.
I've seen TOTK described as "DLC" for Breath of the Wild (derogatory) while on the opposite end, Breath of the Wild has been described as the "tech demo" for Tears of the Kingdom (positive). Frankly, I can see where both sides are coming from. There are lots of elements in TOTK that feel like they could have been in BOTW, whereas other elements can confidently stand on their own separate from that of BOTW.
One such example is the new Sheikah Slate, aka the Purah Pad. While there are some features from BOTW that are surely missed (Cryonis, sigh) others have been replaced with far more beneficial features such as Ultrahand and Fuse (the bread and butter of this game) and Recall, which - controversial I'm sure - is far more functional and has way more opportunities to be useful than BOTW's Stasis ability. The Ultrahand ability alone is a massive upgrade, allowing you to go wild with the game's physics engine. The shrine puzzles are a lot stronger in this respect, having more to work with by combining the Ultrahand ability with thematic Zonai devices, often times taking you through a gauntlet of rooms with similar puzzle-solving, each more challenging than the last. There's nothing more satisfying - and doubly frustrating - than seeing the solution to a shrine you've already spent three days on and going "Wait, I could have done that???" It just goes to show that the inventive creativity necessary to solving these puzzles from BOTW has carried over twofold into TOTK.
However, I feel like these new features are less rewarding as the game goes on. While mechanics like Cryonis and remote bombs made exploring feel unique and accessible in BOTW, the lack of these features in TOTK have made exploring feel far more difficult than it should be. What used to be an easy - albeit slow - endeavor such as crossing a river by creating ice block bridges with Cryonis has now turned into an exercise in futility and physics knowledge. You can't just cross a river, you have to build a boat out of whatever resources you can find or use to cross said river. And while this is a very inventive feature that has really stretched the creative bones of its players, it's a feature that becomes draining. Sometimes you really do just want to cross a river without having to build a spaceship or a ferry. Sometimes you do just want to be able to get up to the top of a cliff without needing to build a hot air balloon. Even with the Autobuild ability, these new mechanics do really start to feel grating after a while, especially for someone such as myself who struggles with executive dysfunction and doesn't want to build yet another boat or flying car just to travel 10 feet.
Regarding that last statement, I think the inclusion of the Ascend ability helps to combat tiresome climbing, but it never seems to be an option quite as often as it could be. I've seen people praise the ability stating that it helps them avoid climbing cliffs entirely, but more often than not, I've found the ability is only usable for a third of a rocky mountain where it happens to have a platform jutting out that's close enough for Ascend to reach - with the rest of it encouraging you to just climb up naturally, or, you guessed it, use the Ultrahand ability to build your way up. The Ascend ability - like Statis from the game's predecessor - is very specific and not accessible enough in the world's design to make it actually helpful. You know exactly when and where you're supposed to use it, and trying to use it outside of those instances won't get you anywhere. Of course, I'm not going to judge this ability too hard because it's still more than what we had in BOTW, but I find its application isn't quite as useful as it could be.
And boy, there are a lot of things in TOTK that don't have as strong an application as they could. I think there's no truer place this could be said than the expansion of the game's map, through The Sky and The Depths.
Disappointingly enough, just like in Skyward Sword, which suffered for having a strong premise but weak delivery with an open sky that had nothing to do in it, Tears of the Kingdom has barely fleshed out its Sky and Depths areas enough to make them feel memorable or worth going out of your way to explore. Once you've explored 10% of either, you've experienced all of it. While the Sky and the Depths each have their own dungeon, neither of them really feel justified enough to explain why they had to be there. The Depths don't add anything to the nature of the Fire Temple - by the time you're finished with it, you'll forget you're even in the Depths - and while the Water Temple does have the addition of lowered gravity up in the Sky, no other islands have this, so it feels like a random addition in the way of a gimmick that doesn't actually play much of a role in the dungeon's puzzle-solving.
As for the Depths, I do have to say that the game introduced it in the best way possible. No one spoke of them, outside of an NPC in Lookout Landing sending you on a quest to find a nearby one, but they still don't describe to you what you're about to come upon. It wasn't in any of the gameplay trailers. You see a big hole in the ground with gloom coming out of it, you know you can jump down into it, but it's not until you actually do that you realize you're diving down into the belly of a completely different beast. Link keeps falling and you're realizing how dark it's getting and hoping you can pull out your paraglider in time to hit a ground that you realize you cannot see - when the music shifts and the horns blare and your stomach sinks realizing just how dark and vast this place is.
The Depths are what I truly fell in love with in this game. I was struck with that primal fear in my gut that I hadn't felt since playing Majora's Mask as a child. For the first time in forever, I felt like the smaller species, like a speck of dust in unfamiliar territory. It was a welcome feature for a game that - if you had preceded it with Breath of the Wild - needed something to shake things up.
But, unfortunately, that initial thrill wears off eventually. The Depths become just that - a vast expanse with nothing in it. Aside from the odd treasure chest containing a piece of gear, the Bargainer's Statues, and a couple main story quests that take you down there, the Depths have nothing. Mapping them out is a feat in and of itself, even more daunting than mapping out the above ground with its tens of lightroots, but once you get at least 50% through the map, you realize that there's really nothing else to it. In fact, the map of the Depths exactly mirrors that of the map above you, with even less to do due to its lack of notable landmarks (outside of a central mining area, the Korok Grove, and the aforementioned Fire Temple), lack of biome distinction between areas (aside from the Eldin area created specifically for the Fire Temple), and lack of shrines. Once you figure that out, mapping out the rest of it is an unfortunately boring cakewalk.
I think both of these new inclusions in the game are unfortunately half-baked, making TOTK in and of itself feel like a tech demo for something that could have been more expanded upon. That said, it's a tall order, to ask for the game to run an in-depth open world map on three separate levels - the hardware itself already often struggles to load the Depths if you dive down into them too quickly, as the fall itself is its own cleverly hidden loading screen - but it's a shame to see it essentially repeat the mistakes of Skyward Sword, and it's where I feel that "this could have been DLC" complaint comes from.
There are features that feel like mild downgrades from BOTW, such as its new Fuse ability to fuse together weapons. While it seems inventive at first, the amount of inventory being carried over from BOTW makes the gameplay grind to a halt as you scroll through your pop-up inventory list to find the right thing to attach to your arrows or weapons, often times mid combat. While you can sort your menu into different sections - such as 'most used' and 'most powerful' - such a thing could have been fixed by allowing the player to create their own custom lists of items or just reducing what is and isn't capable of being fused. It feels like an unnecessary extra step thrown in to BOTW's weapon degradation mechanic just to make it feel more unique.
Moving on, this is where I want to talk about the game's story. Like the last game, it asks Link to piece together the memories of companions already gone. The story woven within these memories is a tragic one, with an emotional depth to it that I found myself relating far more to than in BOTW, which asked us to sympathize with characters who we had never met and were already gone. On the flipside, TOTK manages to tell a similar story with a lot more emotional depth, now using Princess Zelda as the tether between the present and the past, in a way that I feel works much better than in BOTW. Its climactic twist felt like something you would find in Spirited Away, and its one that I felt was appropriate for the game's setting and themes. That said, I still do not find myself compelled by this game's version of the Champions, similarly to what I experienced in BOTW. At the very least, it brings back cast members from BOTW for us to connect through, such as Purah and Lady Impa, who I was happy to see return.
And then there are the Sages.
I have a lot to say about the Sages.
The Sages have to be the single worst inclusion of this game. And that's not to say they ruin the game, but in a game full of wonderful moments and amazing gameplay, they definitely feel like a tarnishing C- on an otherwise perfect report card. Just like in Breath of the Wild, the game's main story gameplay is the weakest part of Tears of the Kingdom. While BOTW had Link conquering the out-of-control Divine Beasts, TOTK asks Link to unearth ancient temples and awaken the spirits of sages long gone for their powers to be reborn through their descendants, three of which happen to be the successors of BOTW's Champions: Riju, Sidon, and Yunobo. While the development team and press surrounding this game called these temples "traditional dungeons", they are fundamentally the exact same as the Divine Beasts, following the same 4-beat structure in which you have to activate 4 'locks' (themed around the dungeon's setting) to unlock the dungeon's boss. I found these dungeons were often even easier than the Divine Beasts of BOTW, essentially asking Link to solve four separate shrine puzzles to get to a boss that follows a simple mechanic loop. While the bosses are far less repetitive than the Blights of BOTW, they are also far less intimidating or punishing, barely requiring any extensive thought to figure out how to overcome them. The hardest boss in the game - the Gibdo Queen - ironically had one of the easiest dungeons out of the four.
But here's the thing - Tears of the Kingdom is built the exact same way as Breath of the Wild, giving the player freedom to choose the order in which they complete dungeons, if they even choose to complete them at all... but unlike past Zelda games which offered this freedom, TOTK fails in how it delivers these dungeons and the narrative surrounding them. I was miffed upon completing my second dungeon - the Fire Temple - and realizing that the cutscenes it presented were the exact same as the first one I did - the Wind Temple - and sure enough, that same cutscene played out from its respective sage for the following Water Temple and Lightning Temple. They are all the same. While one could argue this was their way of navigating around the freedom of choice - to allow the player to experience neutral cutscenes that won't be out of order or out of context - the memories themselves are also out of order and out of context so having the dungeon cutscenes be varied should be a feature, not a bug to patch out. Currently, with its repetitive cutscenes and what you gain from completing a dungeon, it makes them far less enjoyable to do, knowing you're essentially just doing one big shrine with a giant enemy (one you can find in the Depths for farming, which makes them feel far less unique or imposing) with the reward of a heart in the end.
Of course, I'm forgetting to mention the other reward you get after completing a dungeon. Sage abilities. The biggest downgrade from BOTW by far.
In BOTW, upon completing a Divine Beast, you would be granted with an ability from its respective Champion, typically a passive one - meaning, if you had the ability enabled, it would activate on its own or you could trigger it a specific way, such as Mipha's Grace which would automatically revive you once in between cooldowns (basically a fairy you didn't have to catch) and, the fan favorite, Revali's Gale, which could be triggered by holding down the jump button and would grant you so much more ease of exploring.
Tears of the Kingdom, instead, asks "What if we made all of the Champions their own characters who could run around you, get in your way, and offer even less useful abilities?"
The present Sages - Yunobo, Tulin, Riju, Sidon, and Mineru - are akin to a teenager taking way more dogs than they could handle out for a walk. They are five nuisances who will run away from you when you need them, and run around you when you're just trying to pick up an item, causing you to accidentally trigger their abilities which are simply mapped to the A button. Too many times I've had them trigger a fight with enemies I was trying to avoid, blow away loot I was trying to grab, or blow up explosives that I wasn't aiming at, killing me outright. While they can be turned off, I feel like it could have been far easier to implement them in a way that wasn't so distracting and obtrusive - currently, the way they're implemented basically demands you keep them turned off until you absolutely need them. Considering a map of the Switch controller buttons comes up with the A button highlighted, it begs the question, why even have the other three buttons visible onscreen if they can never be mapped? Why not make use of different buttons for different companions? Or make them passive abilities similar to that of the Champions from BOTW? Overall, their inclusion feels clunky and not well thought out, and their abilities aren't near beneficial or useful enough to justify this much headache. At most, Yunobo is helpful in blowing up rock walls when you don't have Bomb Flowers, and Tulin is helpful in gusting you towards a landing spot while gliding through the sky, but that's about where their usefulness ends. Unlike in BOTW, the efforts required to gain their abilities barely feels like a reward, but more of an obligatory chore, making the dungeons feel even less rewarding to do.
With all that said, unlike in BOTW, Tears of the Kingdom never becomes a smoother experience to explore. The effort you put into completing the dungeons and gaining better weapons and gear never feels rewarded with anything substantial or worth working for. The Sage abilities are a burden and give very little benefit to exploring or combat the same way BOTW's Champion abilities did, the dungeons themselves aren't experiences worth writing home about, and the story is so milquetoast and repetitive that once you beat one dungeon, you've experienced all of them.
That said, while I've done a lot of complaining, there are a lot of things about the game I'm enjoying compared to Breath of the Wild. One such thing are the sidequests - there are a LOT more of them in this game, and many of them feel far more engaging and rewarding than Breath of the Wild. Accessing the Great Fairies requires an actual sequence of quests now, in which you bring a travelling band back together, and from that point forward, you can always hear them playing their music at the stables scattered throughout Hyrule. Hateno has its own questline that rewards you with what's possibly Link's greatest piece of fashion ever, Cece's Hat. Even the small quests feel more rewarding to do because TOTK feels far busier than BOTW did. There are far more NPC's, and the world itself just feels more lively; I wouldn't expect any less in the sequel to BOTW which experienced a cataclysmic event that wiped out the population of the kingdom. It's nice to see the difference in how the towns operate in TOTK because you can feel it through its sidequests. There are still Yiga Clan members in disguise on the surface, but it's far less now compared to BOTW where you couldn't talk to an NPC on the road without getting shanked.
Of course, it wouldn't be a BOTW sequel without one of its most daunting sidequests of all - the Korok Seed quest. This time, there are 1000 Korok Seeds to find, with new puzzles to find them, most notably the escort quests, which require you to build whatever godforsaken Roman-era torture device you need to build to get wandering Koroks from Point A to Point B.
That said, the unfortunate news I have to break to you after finally seeing someone complete the quest themselves - all that awaits you in the end, once again, is "Hestu's Gift" which I have to say, isn't as quite as funny the second time around. While in BOTW it felt like a funny nudge at completionists, in the vein of "Haha, look at you! You worked so hard to get all those seeds and all that awaited you was a pile of poop! It's all in good fun! The real prize was the adventuring you did along the way!" but having that be the end prize again in TOTK where we're exploring regions we've already explored before feels far more passive-aggressive, like it's making fun of you for really doing what the devs expected you to do a second time, with a snarky, "Seriously? You're that stupid? You really thought there'd be something new this time?" Especially considering the Koroks exclusively populate the Sky and the Surface - giving players even less incentive to want to explore the Depths, further robbing this new expansive area of less identity. Ironic that the Depths, an area so big that it requires its own hidden loading screen, would end up having even less to do than the Sky itself, which barely covers any surface area in the game's overall map by comparison. It's a damn shame the devs couldn't be bothered to think of something to reward the player with for all their work. At least in BOTW it could be said the reward was the exploration, as so much of BOTW's map goes untouched by its main story and its world was brand new to us back then - it's not brand new now, though, and the areas that are new are going completely unused.
I realize this review is getting quite long, but I want to close it with one final point - Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom's place in the Zelda franchise.
There's a startling lack of one specific thing that makes a Zelda game truly Zelda, despite the dev's best efforts to return its old school elements such as traditional "dungeons" and its nods to previous games in the title through its referential gear sets implemented right into the game (vs. exclusively as DLC in BOTW) - and that's the Triforce.
It's said that a true Zelda game can't contain its core triad of characters - Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf - without containing the Triforce in the center of all of it, and yet Tears of the Kingdom did this, and frankly, it just proves that point.
Anyone who knows me knows I'm not good at singling out a 'favorite'. Whenever people ask me what my favorite Zelda game is, my mind races through all the titles I played as a child - Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess - and yet I rarely think of Breath of the Wild and likely won't think of Tears of the Kingdom either. It's not for lack of trying or consideration, I do think both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are respectable games, both inclusive and exclusive of one another, but rarely does my mind go to them because to me, they don't feel like true Zelda games. And I didn't realize why until I recalled that the last game we had featuring Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and the Triforce as core setpieces... was Twilight Princess. A game that will be turning seventeen this year, and will likely be twenty by the time the next mainline Zelda game releases. And one could argue even Twilight Princess doesn't count because Ganondorf was a last second addition - if we want to be really obtuse about it, technically we haven't gotten a game featuring Link, Zelda and Ganondorf as our main characters since Wind Waker, a game that turned twenty years old last year!
I felt its absence especially in Tears of the Kingdom, seeing Ganondorf manipulate his way into stealing the sigh 'secret stones' (I'm sorry but that name is so fucking cringe, please just call them "sacred stones" or "mystic stones" or SOMETHING more interesting than "secret stones", we don't even get any sort of lore or hinting towards where they came from, they're just magical McGuffin's with a stupid name) but not once mention his true motivations prior to finding out about the stone's existence. There was no emotional motivation such as what can be seen in The Wind Waker through a Ganondorf scorned by his lost culture and the kingdom that he just wanted to see wiped out to make things even; or Ocarina of Time Ganondorf who sought to access the Sacred Realm and take the Triforce and all its power for himself. Shit, there wasn't even a mention of Demise, the massive plot-twister of Skyward Sword, which Nintendo attempted to make the ultimate explanation as to why the games and their stories experience the same warring cycle from generation to generation; an explanation that could have worked, if they had actually followed up on it through BOTW and TOTK - yet, despite having the opportunity to do so, seem to just be whistling around the issue, pretending like it's not there. Despite having an Ouroboros in its title art, this cycle of death and rebirth is noticeably gone in Tears of the Kingdom.
Look, I get it. The developers have already stated that they're intent on moving forward with its open world format in future Zelda games. It's making them a lot of money. It's refreshing. It's bringing new fans into the franchise. And it's bridging the gap between generations by re-introducing classic exploration elements of retro Zelda while trying to also balance the narrative elements that modern post-N64 Zelda fans have come to expect.
But when you tear apart all the original components of a franchise, of its themes, its characters, its stories, and replace them with new components only slightly reminiscent of the old... can that franchise really be called the same thing anymore? When people ask me what my favorite Zelda game is, I don't think of Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom because to me, they're just not Zelda games. They're just what they are - Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo had a huge opportunity to make Tears of the Kingdom into a game that could tie its predecessors together with a neat little bow, and yet it still took the half-baked way out, layering it instead with its own story that doesn't even really work or take advantage of the foundation it's standing upon. They're their own games, and that's okay, but I can't help but feel that the further we go down this road, the less it'll encompass what made Zelda what it was to begin with.
And yeah, I'm sure I'm just being a typical 'old Zelda fan' who's complaining about the exact same thing that people complained about in games like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. But when your Zelda game featuring Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf does not mention a word of the Triforce, I think both retro and modern Zelda fans can agree to even a slight extent that you can't have Legend of Zelda without the Triforce. That would be like having Super Mario without Power Stars (or some equivalent of them) or Kirby without its existential nihilism or Sonic without Chaos Emeralds. Sure, you can have games in their franchises without their respective trademarks, but do it enough times and people will start to notice something's seriously off. I think we can all agree that while Twilight Princess and Wind Waker may be, aesthetically and thematically, completely different games, you can't deny they're Zelda games at their core because they still have that signature cast fighting over those pesky golden Doritos.
In this respect, Tears of the Kingdom feels like it's suffering from the same problem Star Wars is suffering from - it exists to spite the titles that came before it, but knows it won't succeed without the fans of those titles so it makes as many cheeky references to those titles as it can without paying actual respect to them. It even opens the game with references to things that retro gamers will recognize - Rauru, Ganondorf recognizing Link's name, etc. - but then all those elements are later revealed to be unique to TOTK, such as Rauru being the first King of a Hyrule that's exclusive to the BOTW timeline, or Ganondorf only recognizing Link's name because a time-travelling Zelda told him his name, not because it's the same Ganondorf of titles' past. It feels incredibly disappointing to have all this setup and so little payoff especially for these games that are claiming to be the 'next step' for the franchise. It feels less like a 'next step' and more like a complete reboot for a different audience. These games are not reminiscent of what pulled me and my brother into the franchise way back in the day.
But I dunno, maybe it's a weird hill to die on. I don't want to be one of those "not my Zelda" puritans but when the games don't even contain elements of what made them distinctly Zelda back in the day, down to its trademark features, it makes me wonder what exactly where the series is headed.
Anyways. That was a lot. I do want to make it clear that I am enjoying this game, very much so, but like many games that top the charts with solid 10/10's on release, I feel like there are definitely still places the game could have been further refined, despite the extra year it took to polish it. From the inconvenient gameplay halters like the inventory fusing, to the obtrusive butchering of the Sage abilities, so many things could have been tightened up just a bit more to further improve on what Breath of the Wild started, rather than trade out what BOTW did for weaker alternatives. It's a game of gimmicks, rather than one of substance. While Breath of the Wild lacked substance itself in many regards, it at least had the benefit of being a brand new format, with a vast world one could spend hours exploring - with that same world returning in Tears of the Kingdom, with very little done to flesh out the attempts to expand it, it very much feels like it's simply riding off the coattails of Breath of the Wild, and in that regard, I can agree to an extent with the "DLC" arguments, while also agreeing that there are things in TOTK that very much improve on BOTW and make it look like a tech demo.
One thing I will recommend in the end to those of you who might be reading this - do not play Breath of the Wild right before Tears of the Kingdom. Whether it's your first time playing BOTW or you're wanting to revisit it, don't do it. I was fortunate enough that my last time playing BOTW was several months ago, but I've seen loads of people not enjoying TOTK because they replayed BOTW in the days before its release, and let me tell you, this game is far less of a unique or fun experience if you play BOTW right before playing TOTK due to the world design. If you play them one after the other, you'll burn yourself out on it and not get to appreciate what TOTK adds to BOTW's world as much as if you had gone in partially or mostly blind.
And that's all I'm gonna say on that. Tears of the Kingdom gets a 8.5/10 from me. I am excited to see where the franchise goes next in terms of its open world concept, I hope Nintendo can at least stray away from this version of Hyrule so we can get something new like we did in BOTW. Tears of the Kingdom was by no means a negative experience for me, and I'm planning on getting back into it tonight and tackling more of its sidequests, which are probably one of my favorite parts of the game. I could very well be way too hard on it, so this opinion could change over time as I spend more time in its world, but these are my general experiences that have come up in the back of my mind over the past couple weeks since its release.
Thanks for reading!
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inkabelledesigns · 1 month
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Today is a really special day in gaming. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is rereleasing on Nintendo Switch, and I am so happy. This was one of my sister's favorite games growing up, and subsequently, one of my favorite stories in the Mario world by far. So today I'd like to tell you a story about how we got introduced to this game, because it's actually quite funny.
See when I was a kid, we didn't have a lot in the way of videogames the way that most people know them today. Our first home console was a Wii in 2008, and by then I was a preteen. We only had an inkling of what games were outside of a CD-ROM because of my cousin, who played on a Gameboy Advance at all of our family gatherings. But as we got older and were ready for the internet, my sister got into Mario, and I was into Sonic. And we'd scroll through Wikipedia, looking at all these games that made up our favorite heroes' adventures. That was the first time we heard of the Paper Mario series. Seeing as we had no GameCube or way to play GameCube games, we found a let's play of TTYD that was really funny, and we watched it all the way through more than once.
One fateful day, Mom took us out to GameStop, and we were browsing through the used games. This was back when they still had GameCube games mixed in with the Wii selection, and we struck gold. Paper Mario TTYD was hiding amongst the other games present, and my sister and I freaked out. We knew this game sold for a lot, but there it was, right at our local GameStop, for a relatively reasonable price. A treasure of legend that seemed unattainable, and yet here it was, right in her hands. We knew nothing of how to make a GameCube game work on the Wii, we'd never had a reason to learn. But in that moment, we asked for help. The GameStop employees there were kind enough to help us. We walked out of there with the adventure of a lifetime, Sonic Riders Zero Gravity for me, and I wanna say a Madcatz controller, because that was all they had. X'''D They had to call the GameStop in the mall for us, because the last thing we needed was a memory card, and sure enough they had one! So Mom brought us over, and we had all the tools so that my sister could play this thing.
Booting it up was magical. It's one of the most fun stories Mario has ever told, and seeing it on my screen was nothing short of a treat. And it's continued to be that way for a long time. I've got fond memories of my sister coming home on college breaks and taking some time in the evening to try and beat it again. It never got old.
Yesterday she texted my other sister and I, so excited about the remaster today. And I couldn't help but smile, remembering just how much she loved that original experience. And while I'm not playing it yet (not until we get a really good discount), I'm hoping it's a wonderful experience for all of you who are. There's so much I love about this entry. It's got great characters, a fun art style, great music, and truly a wonderful story that kept me on my toes. The humor was great too. The party members in this one are some of the best Paper Mario has ever had. I hope you love them all. I hope you have so much fun playing it or watching someone you love play it.
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seyvia · 1 month
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📩 Simblr question of the day: A non-sims simblr question/s! Besides Sims, what other games do you play and what platforms do you like to play on? (PC, Console, Mobile...) What would genre/s do you tend to lean towards? (FPS, Sandbox, Multiplayer, Simulation, etc.)
Bonus! If a game has character customization, do you like to make a completely new character everytime or do you like to use the same OC/Sim?
Feel free to ramble, especially if you really enjoy a game (❁´◡`❁)
Thank you for thinking of me💕(>/////< " ). (Sorry it takes me so long to answer these) I'm only playing pc/mobile games currently, but I used to play lots of console/ds games. But I'll stick to talking about what's current. (I'm honestly a bit behind the times, lol 👉👈)
I play Syberia religiously every year! All three games, if I can. I didn't enjoy that recent one that came out. I wish I could explain why better then, 'the vibes were way off and the actual gameplay part of it was nonexistent,' I've played this game since I was 7, ok! It developed my brain! I have HIGH expectations and no tolerance for anything less at this point.
I also pick one of the old Her interactive 'Nancy Drew' pc games to play on the side because they make me happy and give me so much nostalgia. (The problem is I know who did it, so no surprises for me🥲) they just don't make these kind of games like they used to.
I've played farming sims since the GameCube, as some of y’all know, I only recently started playing Stardew Valley. I enjoy it far more then I imagined. If you're wondering why I hadn't played it before now, well, I simply didn't appreciate the pixel style until recently. I find it charming now♡ I've been playing Palia since last September and I'm really enjoying it. It's charming and the characters designs are something I've wanted from a farm sim for a long time, plus+ its freaking free♡ (I'm not big on multi-player, tho so I have to build up the courage to play it, I'd have loved it if it was a solo🫤). I played Ooblets on my hiatus. It was very cute and reignited my imagination♡
I bought Fallout 4 when it was on sale. I hope to play it soon, I love retro 50s/60s atomic age. My brothers are really big on it, and it actually brought us a little closer since they didn't understand my enjoyment of the era before they played the game.
I played all of Spyro reignited last summer♡ pretty proud of myself for getting almost perfect. And for mobile I play 'Good Pizza, Great Pizza' It's so cute highly recommend. I want to get home chef hustle and recreate my character in Sims, lol!
CHARACTERS: Honestly, I make a new character depending on the game and what suits my interests at the time, but they are usually the same? Like, they all kind of look like...me, sometimes...😅 when in doubt, brown hair! that's about it.
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I am LOVING the furniture brackets!! If it's not too much work, coule you maybe include what games the items are from/in? (Dw about it if it's too much though, the brackets themselves are probably very time consuming already)
I think maybe it is too much work but I'll list all the ones I know without googling here for you. I'm extremely familiar with NH's and NL's catalogue, and I mostly know which items are new to those games, but the older games I'm less sure about. if you wanna know a specific one, nookipedia is pretty good. I pulled all the images I'm using for the NL items from there
for the stand alone items, all of them except balloon dog, snail clock and lovely phone are available in NH
this isn't true 100% of the time, but here is a gist oh how items have progressed through the games:
the original game was developed for N64, and was ported to gamecube in the west. as a result these items have like 6 polygons and needed to be remade for the jump to DS. I believe most items made it to the DS, but I definitely know of a few that didn't make it (rip lovely stereo).
from DS to Wii, many items were ported directly as they were & use the same models (the ones with round parts were mostly remade though), so most items returned. same thing from Wii to 3DS, the 3DS has a tiny screen so the items could be reused again and most items returned. at this point though you can start to really tell the difference between the new and old furniture, since the new stuff has so much more detail and is generally less boxy
from 3DS to Switch EVERY item had to be remade. NH is an HD game and you can't be using models from 2005. as a result, less than half of the items in NL made it to NH (682 out of 1764) and many that did return look noticeably different
anyways here's a list of the tournament items and sets and where they're from to the best of my knowledge:
Items:
froggy chair - all games
leo sculpture - NH, NL (but it was stone and had glowing eyes in NL)
balloon dog lamp - NL
eggplant cow - definitely NH and NL, idk if it was in other games
dreamy wall rack - NH
throwback skull radio - NH
dried flower garland - NH
rose bed - NH
creepy skeleton - NH, NL, CF
elaborate kimono stand - NH
pergola - NH, but a similar item called "wisteria trellis" was a public work in NL
mom's plushie - NH
greenhouse box - NH, NL
soft serve lamp - I think all games? definitely NH and NL, but I think it's one of those classic forever items
cherry-blossom pond stone - NH
rocket lamp - all games, but it was called lava lamp in every game except NH
snail clock - NL
imperial dining table - NH, but a similar item called lazy-susan table was in NL. not sure if the lazy-susan table was in older games. possibly CF?
decayed tree - NH
lucky cat - all games
ACNH nintendo switch - NH (duh)
spooky cookies - NH
virgo harp - NH, NL, but it was wooden in NL
rescue mannequin - NH
kerropi bridge - NH, NL
tiny library - NH
scattered papers - NH, NL
lily record player - NH, NL
skull rug - NH
mom's cake - NH
star clock - NH
anatomical model - I think all games
moon - I think all games
hyacinth lamp - NH
cancer table - NH, NL, but it was all gold in NL
paper tiger - NH, NL, idk about older games
colorful juice - NH
music box - NH, WW, though it didn't play KK songs in WW, it just had one unique song that it played. I think it was an item for reuniting Katie and Kaitlyn. idk if CF had it too. one of the VERY FEW items that were in previous games to not appear in NL
bathtub with yuzu - NH
plain party lights arch - NH
cinnamoroll sofa - NH, NL
dreamy rabbit - NH
elephant slide - all games
fortune teller set - NH (though NL & CF had the creepy crystal)
cucumber horse - definitely NH and NL, idk if it was in other games
dessert case - NH, NL, maybe CF???
peach chair - NH
starry garland - NH
bonsai shelf - NH
afternoon tea set - NH, NL (NL girlies remember the struggle)
my melody clock - NH, NL
monster statue - NH
hamster cage - all games
wheat field - NH, NL, CF
dragon zodiac figure - NH, NL, CF, but it looked different in NL and CF
lovely phone - all games except NH
toy duck - NH
crescent moon chair - NH
retreo stereo - all games
titan arum - NH
resetti model - I think all games?? I think it's been the groundhog day item in every game. maybe not WW since it didn't have real holidays
rattan towel basket - NH
cherry blossom branches - NH
sets:
I'm gonna skip any "ACNH redesigns" since obviously they're only in ACNH. I don't consider any sets other than the sanrio sets and the mermaid set to be truly the same between NH and NL (all 7 of those sets were new to NL, so NH has NO SETS that are the same from older games)
dreamy - NH
wedding - NH
patchwork classic - NL
spooky - the version in the tournament is only in NH. the old version is in NL, CF and PG
throwback - NH
mush classic - NL, CF, WW
rococo - NL
elegant - NH
diner - NH
flower - NL
glowing moss - NH
ruined - NH
fruit classic - all games except NH
sweets - NL, CF
my melody - NH, NL
cabin - all games except NH
log - NH
green - all games except NH
modern wood - NL
insect - NL
mario - NH, but every game has had some version of a "nintendo set". NH is the only game to only have mario items
motherly - NH
kiddie - every game except NH
ironwood - NH
hello kitty - NH, NL
kerropi - NH, NL
house plants - every game except NH
stars - NH, kinda NL. NL had the zodiac items but they all looked different, while NH made the set more cohesive and added the glowing star items
gorgeous - NL, CF
nordic - NH
alpine - NL (very obviously added to show off the new customization feature)
construction - all games except NH
modern - all games except NH
chess - all games except NH
shell - NH
blue - all games except NH
cherry blossom - NH (but the clock was in NL)
cute - NH
lovely - all games except NH
rattan - NH (redesign of cabana, which is not in this tournament but was in every game except NH)
astro - NL
plaza - NH
fish - NL
moroccan - NH
kiki & lala - NH, NL
harvest - NL, CF, PG
mermaid - NH, NL
gracie - NL, CF
imperial - NH (redesign of exotic, which is not in this tournament but was in every game except NH)
cinnamoroll - NH, NL
regal - every game except NH
sloppy classic - NL
ranch classic - every game except NH
cardboard - NH, but NL also had a cardboard set
robo - every game except NH
classic - every game except NH
antique - NH
card - NL, CF
princess - NL, CF
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barramundi · 1 year
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my twilight princess journey: enemies to lovers apparently
A few days ago I beat the legend of zelda: twilight princess for the first time ever!! and man...... i am not okay (positive)
I've always been a HUGE zelda fan, ever since I was a little kid. i literally can't remember a time I didn't have zelda in my life. so much i used to spend all day long playing majora's mask with my older sibling and i remember how i knew there were other zelda games but i thought all of them would look like oot/mm... and then twilight princess was announced. and i thought that was the most beautiful game I had ever seen. i fell in love with midna and i thought link was just so handsome and cool... unfortunately i never owned a gamecube and apparently my sibling was not really interested in twilight princess, so... time went by and i never had the chance to play it.
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and then, back in 2012, 10 years late, 14 year old me heard of the wind waker for the first time. i immediately fell in love with the art and i HAD to play that game. i owned a Wii at the time and i remember feeling disappointed realizing WW was for the gamecube but then FEELING EXCITED REALIZING THE WII COULD PLAY GAMECUBE GAMES. i fought really hard to be able to play the wind waker. and i did!!! i played it way too much probably. i always say it's at least my top 2 zelda. sometimes even top 1, only losing to majora's mask.
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and twilight princess remained unnoticed........ until I noticed it... negatively
back in the day people used to hate a lot on the wind waker because of the graphics and art style. and what they would compare it to to say the graphics sucked?? twilight princess. "TP good dark mature awesome!!! WW bad stupid kiddy game!!" UGH i was outraged. i had to stand up for my favorite game!!! before i even noticed, i already hated twilight princess.
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i had some (bad) reasons like being under the impression that TP was trying way too hard to be dark and gritty and realistic and that it took itself so seriously it made it look stupid. and i would compare it to majora's mask's effortlessness in creating a depressing but beautiful atmosphere without having to be visually dark. "TP wants to be MM soooo bad it's embarrassing hihihi!!!" oh shut up you never played it, weirdo!!!!
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anyways, fast forward to may 2023. nintendo releases tears of the kingdom and with it apparently the end of the old zelda format. i was so devastated and sad... ever since botw, i was hoping for a new old-fashioned zelda game; and now it would never come... but still i was longing to play a zelda game. i wanted to GET THROUGH DUNGEONS, SOLVE PUZZLES, DO COOL SIDEQUESTS FOR FUNNY CHARACTERS!!! but i didn't want to play the ones I had already played again... i wanted something new... but what!!!
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i looked at twilight princess, twilight princess looked at me.... i thought "welp... i guess I wouldn't be able to run from you forever". and off i went to hyrule... or rather, to ordon village
at first I was sincerely shocked by how much TP felt like the wind waker. same engine, similar combat (but greatly improved), same sound effects, the yellow rupee... i was jokingly saying it was the wind waker's evil twin lmao
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when i got to the first dungeon, it finally hit me: through all these years, what the FUCK did I think twilight princess was gonna be other than... *SHOCK*... A NORMAL ZELDA GAME?????
A VERY GOOD ZELDA GAME???? T-THE BEST ONE????
remember all that talk about trying way too hard to be dark and gritty?? dude. what the fuck. this game is fucking adorable. midna is SO cool in a sweet way, the songs are great and honestly this is my favorite link ever. i always looked at him being marketed as a MANLY MAN THE MOST AGGRESSIVE REALISTIC LINK GGRRRR LOOK AT HOW DEEP HIS VOICE IS!!!! reality: he is the cutest link. literally the cutest most adorable link. bless him forever. i want to hug him so bad............. i am going to pass out (positive)
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also midna and zelda. they are dating.
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so yeah, there i was having an absolute blast with this game. it has the best dungeons I've ever seen. (except for lakebed temple. i hate lakebed temple. good thing arbiter's grounds is the best dungeon in the entire franchise.)
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anyways I got to temple of time and then my PC fucking gave up and i had to go get it fixed; i lost all my progress and cried myself to sleep but then i pulled myself together and went through it all over again. and i would do it again. because i love this game. i finally beat it 5 days ago and i can't stop thinking about it. might just as well start another run honestly
twilight princess has now surpassed most zelda games I've played and is comfortably sitting under majora's mask and the wind waker as my 3rd favorite zelda game. but there is a twist: i haven't played MM and WW in years and i kinda needed to play them again just to confirm or change my ranking. the problem is that i just don't feel like playing them. 'cause i just want to play twilight princess!!!
so yeah, with a new personal record of 17 years of delay, it still feels kinda weird to say that twilight princess might just be my favorite zelda game ever. 🙏
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that's it bye
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soyouareandrewdobson · 7 months
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Nintendo-vember Level 4: a last minute birthday special and opinion on Zelda
Okay so before I start this post, I should admit that I initially intented to post this one only in a couple of days, to let the previous entry settle down a bit. But as some anon made me realize, today on November 21th is actually the 25th anniversary of Ocarina of Time.
I am not going to let this chance go to waste. So enjoy this entry.
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Following the Localization comic and me giving the claims of Dobson a bit of a verbal beatdown, I decided out of a certain (biased) nostalgia for the Ocarina of Time, to dive in a bit further into Dobson’s genuine disdain for the game.
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For a start, I take some clues from “thehypocrisyofandrewdobson” and just point to those little posts Dobson made in regard of one videogame, that not only fans but (as I want to show later) some of the biggest game developers ever have cited as being one of the greatest ever made.
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So what is it? Is it your favorite game on the N64 or an absolute pile of shit? I also find it very telling, that Dobson doesn’t give a damn about story and only visuals, at least according to the tweet.
And before you ask, no, I don’t think Shadow of the Collosus is a bad game because “it’s not Zelda” or something. I actually agree with Dobson that it is a visually stunning game. In addition it manages to tell a rather tragic and poignant tale with only minimalistic story techniques and has quite some unique platforming elements and ingenuity in order to defeat the titular creatures. But you know what is also funny? The director of the game, Fumito Ueda, cited Ocarina of Time as a major inspiration and influence of the style of the game
As did other game creators, at least according to Wikipedia. And who wouldn’t believe it? After all, OoT among other things was one of the first games back in the day to include a target lock system for fighting enemies in a 3D-environment, making it as such something of a breakthrough when many other game developers truly fumbled with the jump from a 2D environment into a proper 3D one. Not just that, it was also one of the most successful game sales of its time. The N64 version alone sold over 7.6 million copies world wide. All while also being one of the most re-released Nintendo games ever, having gotten releases on the Gamecube and a graphically updated one on the 3DS.
Anything else I want to say about OoT I want however to contextualize in the “analysis” of the following two comics made by Dobson. One SYAC related, one just Dobson whining about the things that in his opinion make OoT a terrible or great game, depending on whatever mood he has right now.
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This one is just one of Dobson’s earliest SYAC comics, in which quite frankly, all he does is bemoan the fact that people hate him for his “silly” takes on things. Flying eyebrows included. Which if you are even slightly familiar with Dobson is kinda bullshit. After all, his “silly takes” and opinions included among other things bemoaning the whole of anime being garbage because he fell out of love for it and the fact people called his work derivative of anime comedy tropes of the 80s and 90s. Or outside of just his comics openly attacking fans of stuff he didn’t enjoy rather blatantly.
There is also another “funny” thing about the comic. The blond guy (one of the few blonds not demonized by Dobson through his artwork) is pointing at the Holiday comic as one example he is confused people got angry about when it comes to Dobson
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The thing is, I myself can understand people calling the comic crap without genuinely being offended about the “Christmas” and Holiday thing. For starters, Danny is a genuine asshole here to the old lady, who hasn’t done anything wrong then to wish him a good time, by essentially making her believe that she did an accidental racism by saying “Merry Christmas” instead of being sensible and assume he is jewish. In addition, you could argue that Danny is doing something inappropriate too by claiming to be of another religion than he truly is, to exploit the privilege connected to it to shame someone.
Lastly, it is hilarious how Dobson wants to “stand up” for non Christians on the holidays, when people at this point likely knew of the Channukah incident, that happened a few years BEFORE the comic was published
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But again, I digress. Anyway, Dobson’s choice of the topic of OoT is in my opinion more than deliberate, even if Dobson claims that the only reason he did so was, because the comic is partly based on real events.
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I get the feeling that was not really all that happened, because who in their right mind would not try to elaborate on their point. And even if the person in question just yelled at Dobson and then moved away, the strawman argument the (of course) uglified strawman nerd makes in the comic is not entirely wrong.
Look, say about OoT whatever you will. Perhaps it is not the best (Zelda) game ever (cause what accounts for “the greatest game ever” in a series or in general is partly based a lot on personal bias as well as the point in time it came out) but I think the following two things ring true:
At least storywise, it was a massive step up from previous Zelda games (especially the very first two of the NES days) and to a degree held the title of the “most complex” storydriven  and “technically less flawed” Zelda compared to some other games that followed in the series for quite a few years. At least Wind Waker based on what I heard (haven’t played it yet, sorry) had a few flaws like the sailing and fishing for items mechanic that nudged the game down a bit, despite how many people consider it a great game in the franchise now. Twilight Princess was widely considered a spiritual successor to Ocarina, but some people complained about a too dark presentation or were even annoyed about Midna. And Skyward Sword’s original controls and the entire thing about Demise hasn’t sit too well with some people either. Mind you, this doesn’t mean I think the games are crap and Twilight Princess is in fact one I want to revisit soon again, now that I am in the mood thanks to the review.
The second thing, it did have a massive impact on the Zelda franchise. Many of the things that kinda make the world of Hyrule way more fleshed out and as such contribute to the fun of the games, found their roots in the game. Things Dobson btw may claim to enjoy in Breath of the Wild, but as evident by that comic I now present hates.
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And in order to make my point, I combine what those elements are, while also dissecting the comic that is the true main point of this entire post, panel by panel
First, the “derpy Goron” thing. So, you don’t like the Gorons? Okay, fine, you do you. But why is your idea to show why you think they suck to give them derp-face and portray them as “dumb? Sure, they are simple minded in a manner in the game, but not like that?
If anything, Dobson’s choice of facial expression and the “DUH” implies that he wants to use the word retarted to describe them. Which you know, kinda offensive. And also hypocritical, as Dobson would show down the line in life that just even the word “derpy” to use to describe a character, would in his mind be problematic.
As evident by the following MLP related posts provided by Hypocrisy, that show his dA journal expressed opinion on the Derpy Hooves controversy of 2012
In addition, hating the Gorons? Why? I admit, I did not think too much of Goron City as a location. It is a cave system in form of a hole in the ground, inside a mountain. Not very much to see there, but that was in regard to the technical limitations of the time. As a species however, I like them. Some of them are just simple minded, but kind creatures, but then you also have a badass like Darunia, who even becomes your brother in blood after you save the species from starvation. They are to me kinda like the Zelda version of the trolls in Discworld, elemental creatures that can also be funny but badass. In addition, traveling through territory leads to encountering some of the best dungeons in the game. Including the dungeon in Death Mountain, where you have to fight a dragon with a sledgehammer.
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Nintendo's original GigaChad
Lastly, the Gorons would help to flesh out the world of Hyrule significantly, by introducing one of the first non human/elfish and yet intelligent species in the entire franchise. Till then, most of the time when you interacted in a Zelda game with an NPC able to talk, it was some other Hyrulian phenotypical to Link. Creatures such as Goblins or Lynel were only minions to Ganondorf. The Gorons, Zoras and Gerudos are the first major species with their own additional culture and kingdoms in the land of Hyrule and they got introduced in this game and further developed in other games.
Heck, Darunia is actually even something of a callback, as he is named after a town in the second Legend of Zelda game for the NES. You know, the sort of games Dobson worshipped.
Ganon(dorf) not being a pig Yeah. And that is a good thing.
Frankly, when OoT came out, most people assumed it to be a “prequel” to A Link to the Past from the SNES, because in this game Ganon isn’t yet in a boar demon form and goes by the name of Ganondorf. And they thought it was awesome. After all, A Link to the Past was a great game for many, and this implied that through OoT we get the “backstory” of this game, by diving into the very conflict that sealed away the Golden Land and resulted in a thief becoming the King of Evil. And we did… kinda.
Ignoring the Zelda timeline branching out more than Dobson ever did in his artistic growth, for quite some time it really came off like this game was a prequel to the SNES game. But not just that, it expanded on the Zelda myth and in doing so also on Ganon, which was more than a good thing.
Let us be real here: Ganon until that point was a boring boar. He simply was a fat blueish boar demon sitting with his thumbs up his ass in the final dungeon till you came along and finished him off with the sword or the silver arrows. Of all the four main Zelda games that existed by Nintendo up until that point, he only showed up in two.
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The thing on the left is supposed to be the true embodiment of evil? Oracle games Ganon on the right was better than that!
Sure, he was the main antagonist and supposed mastermind behind everything in the first Zelda and A Link to the Past, but he had no real presence in the game. He wasn’t like let’s say Kefka in Final Fantasy 6, who showed up early on and became a constant thorn in the side for the heroes over the course of the game or the narrative till we were meant to fight him.
Ganondorf rectified that. In OoT, he was an active threat from the get go. Having assured that the Deku Tree would be infected by a deadly parasite, almost starving the Gorons to death, infecting the patron of the Zoras with another creature before the adventure of Link even began. And once he got IN story the triforce of power after essentially taking advantage that those dumb kids tried to stop him in order to enter the sacred realm… HOLY SHIT did things turn dark. Now Hyrule was ruled by a genuine king of evil.
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The great kingdom we travelled before in search of three gemstones being turned into a wasteland and everyone we started to care for suffering in one way or another. We had more urgency, because the way the story had handled Ganondorf up until that point, made defeating him way more personal than in prior games. We didn’t just get a final baddie to fight to wrap things up, we saw the rise and fall of evil. Not to forget, his boss battle, with the castle falling apart and then the final battle in which Ganondorf finally snaps and takes on a demonic beastform… I have to say, playing that as a kid felt way more epic than the way it was presented in prior games.
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The game essentially abandoned Ganon’s beastial cartoonish look and shallow final boss presence from previous games, to reinvent him as one of the greatest videogame villains of all time. This game establishes him as a determined, malicious and highly cunning villain in search of ultimate power, with his own backstory and origin to booth and laid the groundwork for his presentation in every game afterwards. Be it the old, more regal but still utterly mad man who wants to make Hyrule resurface from the sea in Wind Waker, the semi immortal manipulator in the shadows in Twilight Princess or the usurper and semi demon god in the Breath of the Wild continuity, who even in death is an utter menace thanks to his miasma overflowing the kingdom like some eldritch horror.
You know how they say that a villain is at times only as good as his best villains? Ganondorf is that example for the entire Zelda franchise, if not the entire Nintendo canon. As evident by the fact, that fans and even the main company alike think, that in any form of villainous team up he would be the true leader among the group.
The timeline branching Okay, I kinda agree with Dobson, the timeline branching really is an issue with that franchise. But none I would blame OoT for.
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Timeline according to the Hyrule Historia post Skyward Sword but BEFORE the Breath of the Wild
To me it is like that: The timeline branching is a problem that first genuinely surfaced in the wake of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, as prior to those games you could, even as a casual Zelda player, kinda put the games into a certain chronological order, even if the games themselves were NOT released as such.
Like to me OoT was the first game, followed by Majora’s Mask, then a new Link fought Ganon along in A Link to the Past, the Oracle games and Link’s Awakening, before the NES games had the final incarnation of Link get rid of Ganon for good. Either that or you ignored the NES games and considered everything from Wind Waker on a reboot.
But I digress. To me, OoT can’t be blamed for the timeline branching (nonsense), because the game itself did not attempt to “branch” the timeline. That is something other people, the game developers of future installments started to do, all while just saying OoT should be the point of divergence because it is chronologically the first game with time travel shenanigans.
Blaming it, is like blaming the great grandparents of Jeffrey Dahmer for his murders, because by reproducing and bringing one of his grandparents into the world, the existence of that monster was guaranteed.
On another note, Dobson also genuinely thought the Zelda games should only follow ONE Link for all eternity, instead of reincarnations or alternate versions. Which I guess may be linked to some autistic desire for conformity.
Sidekicks Oh, you are one of those people!
Frankly, I never got the hate Navi gets. I admit that her “hey listen” can get annoying over time, but as far as I know, this has been more of an issue in the American release of the game, than in the PAL version. Or at least I never got the impression she was that annoying. But frankly, she had way more positive functions as a “device” in the game to me, than anything. Plus, I can think of worse sidekicks in the series interrupting the flow of the game.
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Navi has been criticized by some people in the fandom so hard, at this point it isn’t fair criticism in my opinion as much as it is blatant character bashing.
Also, complaining about annoying sidekick characters and how they are dumb?
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Dobson is the last person online to do just that.
Fans Yeah, how dare people have fun with a videogame, that may have also impacted in a positive manner how they think of the medium overall.
I will say this: Yeah, overzealous fans in any fandom are annoying and I actually agree with Dobson on the notion that even if you love something, you should also look at it once in a while with a critical or neutral eye. Admit for example if something has flawed, but also try to explain why these flaws make it good in your opinion e.g.
However, two things work against Dobson’s point.
First, I think that overzealous hatred for something is even worse than overzealous joy.
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Second, like with his hatred for sidekicks, Dobson is one of the last people on the planet to get mad at people being fans of anything to an extreme degree, when he himself has shown rather unhealthy fan behavior. Be it by hating George Lucas for the Star Wars prequels…
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Obsessing over KorraSami to the point of it overshadowing the actual show…
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Or spending more than 500 hours on Zelda Breath of the Wild in only 7 sessions
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Now in his defense, spending hundreds of hours in an open world videogame is not the problem. But 568 hours in seven sessions? That amounts to an average of 78,2 hours per session. So either Dobson let the console run while he was busy doing other stuff (though I doubt they included actually drawing comics) and in doing so wasted precious electricity or he is a severe game addict.
The Zora redesign Again, I don’t get the problem. Zora’s in “A Link to the Past” were pretty much just mindless random monsters. This game established them as a sophisticated species and independent kingdom. And while Princess Ruto could be annoying and the Water Temple was so frustrating, I spend months not playing the game because I was stuck in it, I think the Rutos were a great addition to the game and the series as a whole.
Again, the world of Hyrule wouldn’t be as colorful and interesting, if it hadn’t been further fleshed out by the addition of non-elfish species and kingdoms/tribes. This game learnt to walk, so that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom could essentially run.
I think the only reason Dobson hated them was, because he thought them being turned humanoid turns others into furries. Granted, I can kinda understand why someone would go Troy McLure based on that design…
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But I think the designs of later games are even more detailed.
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Heck, if I ever find out that he claimed for Breath of the Wild or some other game, that the Rutos are amazing and he always loved them, I will laugh my ass off at the hypocrisy. Before punching him in the face while smiling like Sidon
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Oh and I will admit freely, that I love Sidon and his sister, even if my current main expossure to them is via Hyrule Warriors- Age of Calamity. Cause god dang it, those two siblings deserve a happy end, even if it is just in an alternate timeline.
Moving on...
Empty Fields
I will say this: Yeah, the Hyrule Field is my least favorite location of the entire game. It is just a huge grassy plane connecting the different more intriguing locations of the kingdom and before you get Epona or the songs to teleport to the different temples and dungeons, traveling across it can be rather annoying. But if walking around terrain without doing much is such a problem to Dobson, why exactly does he enjoy Breath of the Wild again, as it does involve a lot of travelling around vast space too? Granted, it is at least space with interesting scenery and great battles against minor yet dangerous monsters, but it’s the principal that counts for me here. Not to forget, walking around an overworld map that is kinda empty or devoid of much has been a stable for many games. Including great ones, wherein the lack of action, but the presence of a great atmosphere, helps to sell the game’s atmosphere. Including Shadow of the Collosus, which Dobson claims to love. Btw, if Dobson hates dungeons in Zelda, why isn’t he lapping up the actual overworld?
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And this btw is only the second most annoying nitpick in the comic if you ask me. Cause the most annoying comes of course now
LINK IS BLOND! Again, like I asked in the last post, what is it with Link having a lighter hair color now than before, that makes Dobson channel his inner Chris Chan here? Link being blond is essentially what Sonic’s arms are to the internet’s most famous motherfucker. I just get the impression that Dobson genuinely believes the stereotype of blond people being dumb or at the very least “nasty” as the face Link makes in the panel also is kinda one reserved for genuine douchebags. Smug, slightly arrogant, as if he is going to give someone a swirly.
Heck, Dobson’s asshole level smugness about Link’s hair color has not only been more or less the reason for an entire comic complaining about it to exist…
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If he could, he drew the character as often with brown hair as he could.
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Frankly, I am more concerned about how Dobson’s interpretation of Link looks more like Link’s mother fucked a troll doll (something about the nose in most Link drawings by Dobbear give the impression to me) than anything from the genuine games. Like for someone who considers himself an artist, his own art doesn't really manage to capture what Link is supposed to be (End part 1/2. Second part uploaded in a minute because of a problem regarding the uploading of pics)
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aurheatum · 11 months
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toa anniversary mun day
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under cut
Name: 
Nel, i mean it’s Sarah technically, but once you start getting multiple notes in the mail with Nel on them I think it counts. Nelfes works too. I respond to most anything tbh
Pronouns:
she/her or they/them
Birthday (no year):
Dec 6th Saint Nicholas Day : )
Where are you from? What is your time zone?
Chicago. CST [GMT-5].
Roleplay experience:
Over ten years, started on Neopets and other forums. Moved to Gaia Online and then Tumblr indie space some time in 2011.
Got any pets?
Baby boy
Favorite time of year:
Springtime or Autumn
Some interests and things you like:
I’ve always been super into mythology, all of them. I used to think that Carl Jung was onto something with the collective unconscious but then Anthropology and the reality of multilineal evolution ruined that for me (college will teach you things); but that’s alright because humans their ability to create and interpret their surroundings with equal parts love and fear is still pretty cool.
Some funfacts & trivia about you:
-Agnostic but i work in an occult library (it’s pretty quiet; the new age bookshop across the street has all the events)
-One time on Gaia Online I was kicked out of an Okami RP bc I didn’t make my posts aesthetic enough, and I thought it was just the most heart wrenching thing -I’m not sure what people stand to gain back in Ye Old Runescape luring new players out into the wild and PKing them but I was gullible enough to follow some other players at like 7 yrs old and this would have happened to me if i wasnt SUPER good at clicking my mouse and running out of there. Surviving such a harrowing experience made me think i was truly invincible.
-I was supposed to write my final paper for my Japanese Buddhism class on… surprise, Japanese Buddhism but I really wanted to talk about Kenji Miyazawa’s writings instead so I spun it through a lens of his Nichiren conversion and its impact on his poetry. My prof saw right through me but I still got an A.
What non-Fire Emblem games do you play?
Tales of RPG series raised me as a person so u know. I like Persona 1-2 era SMT though I’ve played Nocturne and IV as well. What else? Okami, LOZ: Twilight Princess, farm sims and visual novels. Genshin, on and off.
Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon:
Psychic; wooper family (clogsire im so glad u joined us)
How did you get into Fire Emblem?
My neighbor would bring over Path of Radiance so I could play it on my gamecube with my own save back in the day
What Fire Emblem games have you played?
Tellius duology. Sacred Stones, FE 13-16; currently doing Blazing Blade. Archanea one day.
First Fire Emblem game:
POR
Favorite Fire Emblem game:
Tie between 3 Houses and Radiant Dawn
Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 
It’s rhea okay. I wont lie and i wont pretend it isnt evidence of my spectacular taste either
If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Tiki (first S support was olivia bc i wanted a pink haired kid)  - Fates: honestly i’d have to revisit, i know i first married niles as m!corrin - Three Houses: I married each lord on their route tho it’s much funnier if you dont i think (First route was Crimson Flower but I saved at the split so I could marry Rhea first lmao) - Engage: Saphir 🥰
Favorite Fire Emblem class:
War Cleric or Qi Adept
If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class?
I’d be the mage you have to drag around and treat with baby gloves only to learn like a single good spell I think
If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation?
Leicester Alliance tbh
If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with?
Based purely on mechanics bc i love them all prob Soren dlc, Sigurd, Celica, and Lyn.
How did you find TOA?
End of 2020/beginning of 2021 I was really trying to get back into rp but couldn’t get into the various systems on discord. One community that I was trying was affiliates with The Officer’s Academy and an active tumblr community rly caught my interest. The rest is history!
Current TOA muses:
Rhea 3H, Micaiah Radiant Dawn, and miss Hortensia engage
Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again?
This blog right here! I put her down for a bit and probably will again but. It’s not like she ever leaves, instead of brain there is Rhea u see (i bear this burden so u do not have to)
Have you had any other TOA muses?
I played Sephiran for a hot sec and Ingrid for around a yearish iirc. Both very fun
Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards?
Not really? I need to be able to connect with them on some level obviously, and I tend to prefer characters who have like a clear childhood or background for why they are That Way. Micaiah was actually p difficult for this reason but being able to really shape her based on what little we know also made me ever more fond. ♥️ I love to stare at pegasusknight and serenesforest supports pages late at night tehe
What do you believe you enjoy writing the most?
I don’t particularly plan ahead but I really love when threads reflect past character development whether in a thread with the same muse or different. TOA extended universe… I’d like to do that more I think but first I have to actually make a support page huh? Since Rhea’s back she’s made more bonds though and that makes me happy.
Favorite TOA-related memory: Definitely Unlocked 2021! It was my first event after really starting to warm to the TOA community and i was an awe of the scope of the events. The mods thought this far ahead?! We can do this?! Every event since has just been even more fun but the surprise and intrigue i felt then really stayed with him
*How do you pronounce TOA?
Toe-uh. Like Dee-En-Dee. you know.
Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day that you’d like to share? 😉 
I think I mentioned I muse Hubert before, and also that I can't really seeing myself maintaining a blog for him? So other than that, no. I do think Nimh could be quite a bit of fun though *laughs*
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